MSE Hungarian Sport and Lifestyle Development Cluster was the only Hungarian participant at the above meeting held in our city, where representatives from seven European regions took part in discussions for two days. The purpose of this cluster is to support the integration of SMEs operating in the North Great Plain region and beyond that are active in the field of sport and healthy lifestyle into European value chains.
MSE Cluster, the members of which include several university-owned organizations, such as the sport club DEAC, participates in the activities of EPSI (European Platform for Sports Innovation). The latter is an international European cooperation network, in which there are hundreds of companies, research institutes and universities active in the field of sport while supporting each other.
“One of the basic functions of clusters is to facilitate innovation processes by involving universities, companies, municipalities and other public stakeholders. During the course of implementing individual projects, we normally figure out how small and medium sized sport enterprises in each region can use their strengths to assist each other in these innovation processes,” said Tamás Dékán, CEO of Hungarian Sport and Lifestyle Development Cluster to hirek.unideb.hu.
The roughly forty participants at the two-day professional program came to Debrecen from a variety of countries including Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Hungary.
The overall aim of events like this is to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of sports innovation and to foster and assist international cooperation between industry players.
The Debrecen event was also attended by Rene Wijlens, who is one of the Executive Directors of the organization called European Platform for Sports Innovation.
“Sport has always been important for people and very much in the focus of their attention from multiple perspectives. What we actually promote is not only sport in the classical sense of the word, but rather sport as one of the key elements of a healthy lifestyle, which is now getting more and more recognition from people. We are present here to provide an opportunity for sports innovation companies to come together and to help each other,” said Rene Wijlens, who also underlined that the city of Debrecen and the University of Debrecen have a very important role in the cooperation between European regions.
The two-day event featured the results of the innovation support program of the project and the results and achievements of the cooperation between the participating European SMEs. There were also professional workshops held to help innovation processes to move forward.
All in all, particular attention at the event was paid to showcasing the opportunities available for SMEs in the sports and health sector in order to apply for funding and to explore the channels and possibilities for international cooperation.
Press Centre - PKZs
